MILFORD — An oyster bed has been closed and a ship’s captain charged with dumping possibly contaminated oysters on a leased lot near Charles Island.

Donald A. Harlacher, 50, of Dixwell Avenue, Hamden, the captain of the Joseph Julius oyster boat, was issued a misdemeanor summons for violating his shellfish license. He was released on a promise to appear in Milford Superior Court on July 5.

Meanwhile, the state served a cease and desist order on Briarpatch Enterprises, which employs Harlacher, and closed the company’s 80-acre leased oyster bed near Charles Island because of a potential health threat of contaminated shellfish.

The company is prohibited for now from harvesting or transplanting any oysters in the bed in question, state Agriculture Commissioner Steven K. Reviczky said.

The company will be given an opportunity to contest the closure and explain why Harlacher’s alleged actions did not result in imminent and substantial harm to public health during hearing Thursday before the Agriculture Department.

“Protecting the public’s health by ensuring the safety of food is a core part of the Department of Agriculture’s mission,” Reviczky said. “Laws regarding how and where shellfish are harvested are vital to preventing illness in people, and this case demonstrates that the state will be vigilant in enforcing those statutes.

“Unfortunately, as a result of the alleged violations by one company, these actions taken today by the agency are necessary to potentially prevent contaminated shellfish from reaching the market,” he said.

A call for comment left on Briarpatch’s phone was not immediately returned Friday.

On June 7, an investigation determined that crewmen aboard the Joseph Julius were harvesting oysters from water near Broad Street and Housatonic Avenue in Stratford, not far from a sewage treatment plant. The boat then headed toward Charles Island in Milford, according to investigators who said they saw crew members dumping oysters near the lot leased by Briarpatch.

“What am I going to say. You got me,” Harlacher allegedly told the investigators, according to their incident report.

The larger oysters taken from the Housatonic River near Sniffins Lane in Stratford are considered to harbor contaminants and are required by the state to be dumped in a state bed in Bridgeport. There they would be monitored for six months, to determine if the cleaner waters enable them to be edible.